Current research in sedimentary geology/sequence stratigraphy and tectonics is aimed at such varied topics as how sedimentation responds to sea-level change, deformation and other phenomena; mechanisms of crustal extension, with particular reference to the low-angle normal fault paradox; and the geology of the Neoproterozoic Era, an interval of time that is unusual for its climatic extremes and as a threshold in the history of life. Much of the work is collaborative, with emphasis on challenging conventional thinking and resolving outstanding disagreements.

Opportunities are available at Columbia for students to learn about and to undertake projects in these and other aspects of sedimentary geology and tectonics. Among priorities for the next year: moving along the Sevier Desert drilling initiative, beginning with a white paper and proposal to acquire seismic reflection data around the proposed drill site in the southern Sevier Desert basin. Another project that I hope to undertake soon, once the political situation in Egypt becomes sufficiently stable, is an investigation of tectonic versus eustatic controls on early Miocene sedimentation in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. The research will involve high-resolution sequence stratigraphy and strontium isotope dating of shells and microfossils at one or more fault-related growth folds.

I am lead proponent for an International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) initiative, Testing the Extensional Detachment Paradigm: A Borehole
Observatory in the Sevier Desert Basin. See the Scientific Drilling workshop report.